The Sword and Laser discussion

Per Veronica's decree, since our March Madness tournament ended as a tie, and the group hasn't read Ms. Schwab before, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab has been deemed the "Main Pick" while The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is the alternative pick.

In my new attempt to perhaps spend less on books and also support my local library, this is the first book I'm requesting on Overdrive. I admit, the news that there are 9 people ahead of me in the virtual line is discouraging. Glad I'm starting now.

If you have a Kindle. It is 99c on the Australian Amazon site.

http://www.amazon.com.au/Darker-Shade...

Edit: Sorry price quoted was wrong for US site.

Tassie Dave wrote: "If you have a Kindle. It is showing as being only US 75c on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Ma...

or 99c on the Australian Amazon site.
http://www.amazon.com.au/Darke..."

It's showing as $10 for me on US Amazon.

Australian does show $1, but I'm not sure if that would actually work for someone in the US without some "trickery"

Tassie Dave wrote: "If you have a Kindle. It is showing as being only US 75c on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Ma...

Odd. I use that same link there and see $9.99.

That's strange it still shows US 75c, but if I click on the book it changes to US $7, weird.

It is definitely still 99c in Australia.

Joanna wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "If you have a Kindle. It is showing as being only US 75c on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Ma...

Odd. I use that same link there and see $9.99."

Sorry. For some reason the US site was showing me the Aussie site prices. US 75c is Aus 99c.

It normally doesn't do that. :-?

Yess! I just read this book and bought the sequel that was released last month (and made the NYT bestseller list).

Looking forward to the discussion!

The audio book is also available on Hoopla if your local library participates. https://www.hoopladigital.com

Tassie Dave wrote: "It is definitely still 99c in Australia."

And only 99p in the UK. Cheap as chips!

Sheila Jean wrote: "The audio book is also available on Hoopla if your local library participates. https://www.hoopladigital.com"

Thanks! Apparently one of my branches has this. I hadn't heard of it before now.

FYI the narrator for the first audiobook was alright, but not great. I listened to and read the book and liked the book overall but the narration didn't make it come as alive as it could have. But if you like the first book, the second one is narrated by the amazing Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.

Oh. Good to know. Thanks Kristin.

See, I told you this would win, and if tie, Veronica would pick it.

In retrospect, (view spoiler)[that cover is kind of spoilery... (hide spoiler)]

0.99 Euro for the Kindle ebook for German customers by the way, so this is a good, too.

Repost from March Madness since we are discussing prices

Scribd has the audiobook of A Darker Shade of Magic, with a free 14 day trial and 8.99 a month it's actually saving me money over the ebook. Also they have a credit system similar to audible but for March it doesn't count against it; don't know how it'll work with being so close to the end of the month but figured I'd mention it.

Bought this one yesterday. Wouldn't normally read this type of book but since lots of people will be reading the book I voted for, I guess its only fair I read theirs as well.

.99 pence in UK (where it has been out for about a year.

Gathering of Shadows (A Darker Shade of Magic), the 2nd book is also out (since 23 Feb).

My library has it. Go libraries!

I got a serious case of déjà vu in the first chapter.
If this book was older I'd be sure I had read this before.

It came to me a few hours later that there was a similar scene in "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" involving the same real life character.

Entirely different, but similar enough in beats to trigger déjà vu.

Glad you all are reading this now that the second book is out.

A 15 hour power outage meant that I finished this book way ahead of schedule. Oh well.

Got and read A Gathering of Shadows yesterday from the library, and it was even worse than A Darker Shade of Magic. I don't understand how it has a better rating on Goodreads. Nothing happened at all, and the book ends on a cliffhanger.

This trilogy has the biggest hype I have ever seen since The Name of the Wind. Both Schwab and Rothfuss should write a book together and then the hype would be even real and better.

Kevin wrote: "Got and read A Gathering of Shadows yesterday from the library, and it was even worse than A Darker Shade of Magic."

If you didn't like "A Darker Shade of Magic" (You gave it 2 Stars) why would you read the sequel?

I am loving it so far (20%) I think this could end up being my favourite book of 2016.

To be fair, there are lots of good reasons to continue on in a series you don't like-- maybe it was designed as long form, and the short isn't representative of the whole. Maybe the author learned from mistakes first go around. Maybe you are a dude you tried to be well-read in current trendy books for whatever reason, professional or otherwise,

Me, I'm going to slog through the third book of Lilith's Brood as soon as grad school reading lets up, for a combination of the above.

We got it during the voting Kevin.

You don't like the book and think it's overrated.

Personally I don't why you'd read the sequel after giving this book a 2 star rating..

Rob wrote: "We got it during the voting Kevin.

You don't like the book and think it's overrated.

Personally I don't why you'd read the sequel after giving this book a 2 star rating.."

To see if it got any better because I asked others who read both books, and they said that the series gets a little better with the second book.

I hated the Wax and Wayne series and Steelheart, but I continued on to see if they were any better, but that was still not the case.

I also hated Way of Kings, but still continued on to Words of Radiance, which was a much better book, even though the series in my opinion is not so great.

There are people who found Garden of the Moons okay, but still continued on with the series because they heard the rest of the series is way better.

I guess if I could read as fast as you do. I might be more willing to try that, but if I don't enjoy the first one, I move on. To many other books to read.

Rob wrote: "I guess if I could read as fast as you do. I might be more willing to try that, but if I don't enjoy the first one, I move on. To many other books to read."

This wasn't really a problem because both books took me about less than 2 hours since it was very simple in every way possible. I found picture books that were more complex in my opinion.

Rob wrote: "We got it during the voting Kevin.

You don't like the book and think it's overrated.

Personally I don't why you'd read the sequel after giving this book a 2 star rating.."

But you do bring up an interesting point, if The Hallowed Hunt was the first book McMaster wrote in her World of the Five Gods trilogy, would most people continued on with the series at all to win all those awards and recognition that the first 2 books have?

Kevin wrote: "This wasn't really a problem because both books took me about less than 2 hours since it was very simple in every way possible.

You can read an entire novel in 2 hours?

I hate you.

Trike wrote: "Kevin wrote: "This wasn't really a problem because both books took me about less than 2 hours since it was very simple in every way possible.

You can read an entire novel in 2 hours?

I hate you."

Some can read a WoT or GoT novel in a day, it usually takes me 5 days to read one of those.

I hate them, too.

Hate hate hate stabby stabby hate.

Kevin wrote: "I don't understand how it has a better rating on Goodreads. Nothing happened at all, and the book ends on a cliffhanger."

Sequels tend to get better ratings than the originals because of self-selection. Many of the people who didn't like the first one won't pick up the second. I guess the main exception would be when authors make a major change and disappoint their core audience.

Rob wrote: "I guess if I could read as fast as you do. I might be more willing to try that, but if I don't enjoy the first one, I move on. To many other books to read."

The Wax and Wayne and Steelheart books took me 4-6 hours each to read.

I can read a Dresden or Ender novel in 6-7 hours.

Harry Potter in about a day and a half

East of Eden took me a day.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn both took me a few hours.

But for Malazan, the usual sized ones usually takes me about 2-3 weeks to read per book

For me basically it all depends on how complex the book is first, then how long the book is. Usually shorter books for the most time are not as complex as bigger books.

Stop showing off. :-P

A good book is like a good woman wine.
You take your time. You savour them. ;-)

I wouldn't even try and read that fast. You would be missing so much.
There is no way you could take in the whole story that quickly and don't say it's easy because it is very simple. That is just condescending to those of us who are enjoying it's compelling story.

Tassie Dave wrote: "A good book is like a good woman wine.
You take your time. You savour them. ;-)

I wouldn't even try and read that fast. You would be missing so much.
There is no way you could take in the whole s..."

For me, the sentence structure was too simple. Mostly shorter sentences that was written in a way maybe not for my taste.

Tassie Dave wrote: "I wouldn't even try and read that fast. You would be missing so much.
There is no way you could take in the whole story that quickly and don't say it's easy because it is very simple. That is just condescending to those of us who are enjoying it's compelling story."


I average out around 100 mass market paperback pages an hour if I "click" with the author's writing style and I take in plenty. It takes me longer if I don't. This is sometimes related to the difficulty level of the writing, but not always. Sometimes I just don't like the story, or the font size is atypical, etc.

However, Kevin, it would be awesome if you'd make your point once and then stop bashing the book. We all understand you don't like it. I'd love to be able to continue reading threads here without constant negativity.

I'm about an hour and a half into the audiobook and am enjoying it so far.

Tassie Dave wrote: "A good book is like a good woman wine.
You take your time. You savour them. ;-)

I wouldn't even try and read that fast. You would be missing so much.
There is no way you could take in the whole s..."

Not true. I read about as fast as Kevin (a 100k word book in ~6-8 hours for the most part) and don't miss much if anything. This really isn't all that fast - it's about 300 words per minute or, roughly, a page per minute. It's mostly a matter of focus, nothing more. Now, two hours would be... rather fast even for a simple book.

It's also, for me, something I have to be in the mood to do. I streak read - I'll read 2-3 books a week for a few weeks, then nothing for some time or almost nothing (a book per 2 weeks).

However, I'm more like Rob when it comes to books that don't catch me. If I don't like something I won't continue a series.

Interesting rat hole. I've always been a bit of a slower reader. Generally 30-40 pages an hour. But I even notice that the authors writing style and complexity does affect my pace. And while plenty of authors write in a simpler style that reads relatively fast, the good ones can use that technique to there advantage. What I mean is even more complex writers will often simplify, and use shorter sentences in action or other fast paced scenes, causing the reader to speed up there reading pace, and making the scene more intense. If not over used, I really enjoy this.

The discussion about reading speed is interesting, but should probably be moved to it's own thread at this point, we've gotten off track.

Please keep this thread to discussion of the book. Thanks.

But Robbbbb.... :)

I have it on hold at the library - will probably be a bit as 5 people are first.

My hold came in surprisingly quick. I'm not ready for it yet. I'll have to hurry up and finish my current book.

Same. I have two books (A Borrowed Man and The Midnight Mayor) going, so I'm fine with this taking a couple of weeks to come in.

Rick wrote: "Same. I have two books (A Borrowed Man and The Midnight Mayor) going, so I'm fine with this taking a couple of weeks to come in."

Oooh, The Midnight Mayor grabbed me and didn't let me go. Love the "urban druid" concept.

Yeah, I read Griffin's first in this series, then thought of it the other night as I was looking to read something else. It's quite good so far.

She's also, you know, Claire North of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and The Gameshouse